


You Were Right

by EmotionalSupportPuma



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: F/F, First Kiss, Love Confessions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2019-12-22
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:48:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21907729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmotionalSupportPuma/pseuds/EmotionalSupportPuma
Summary: Someone points out that Tannis seems to be closer than just friends with Lilith and she sets out to prove them wrong.
Relationships: Lilith/Patricia Tannis
Comments: 6
Kudos: 61





	You Were Right

It started the same way most terrible things start; with one moron challenging another moron to a dare.

Tannis was a very observant person by nature, but she didn't particularly  _ like _ observing other people. Not unless they had some fascinating disease or wound worth examining. She certainly didn't enjoy observing people to figure out what they were thinking. The average person wasn't thinking anything that could hope to measure up to her intelligence. So, Tannis couldn't say exactly how many times the doors to the medical bay opened as someone walked by it.

At some point she realized the same person was pacing back and forth, a caged animal bristling with anticipation. Part of her wanted to march out and tell them to go continue their annoying pacing somewhere else. The rest of her screamed at the thought of doing so, when it was far better to continue staring at her work and  _ not _ talk to another person ever. In the end the line of thinking that won was the same one that almost always won. Tannis would rather chew glass than attempt to converse with someone when it wasn't  _ absolutely  _ necessary.

She was meticulously leafing through papers, the intention to find a particular paper about the anatomy of a saurian, when the doors opened once more and this time they  _ stayed _ open. It would seem conversing was about to become necessary. No voice cut through her motions and Tannis wasn't about to greet whoever it was first. When she found the paper and last, pinning it to a light for an easy look-over as she worked, green eyes drifted ever so slightly. The doors shut before she can see who the person was, but the curiosity is gone in an instant. 

Scarcely five minutes later a braver soul stomped into the medical bay with far stronger purpose. This time Tannis turned to the sound, steeling her nerves over for the inevitable conversation.  _ Let it be an injury _ , a little voice pleaded to little avail. People who were bleeding out on the floor might be messy, but they were often in too much pain or shock to carry out a real conversation with her. She could stitch them up and shove them out the door within a few minutes. 

"Hey, doc!" The oldest of the recent Vault Hunters called out jovially, "Got a question for ya."

Zane's voice is that of a car crash, loud and intrusive. The type of voice you could pick out from the other side of the ship. Tannis grimaced at the volume, lifting a hand to motion for the man to hurry up and ask the question, so that they could get it over with. Three other heads popped up around the doorway as she did. Just what made Vault Hunters such an annoyingly nosy breed continued to vex her. Did it come with the territory of looking for Vaults? Or were they secretly a different species that just didn't know when to mind their own business? Perhaps Tannis could convince the ones that remained to give her a blood sample for comparison. 

"Promise yer not gonna vomit on me when I ask?"

"No."

"Okay, fair 'nuff. Here goes nothin'. Yer in love with the commander, ain't ya?"

The question was something akin to a smack in the face, if that smack was delivered by a hand hanging out of the window of a moving vehicle. Tannis recoiled instantly, mouth falling open with the idea of spitting out about a dozen viciously sarcastic responses to the question. Instead there was nothing except a horrifically uncomfortable silence. Her jaws snapped shut, startled to find that her lips came together wet.

"That- that's…!" She stuttered, spitting blood as it ran down over the mouth.

Tannis couldn't quite believe her ears, unable to piece her errant thoughts together quickly enough to think of a succinct word to describe the question. Preposterous didn't even begin to cover it. Her?  _ In love _ ? It was a ridiculous thought when pointed at anyone, but with Lilith of all people? 

"Absurd." The word was stern, a bullet through the air, "Completely and utterly  _ absurd _ ."

"Not really, you're really comfortable around her." A voice piped up from the doorway.

"Because she's my  _ friend. _ "

"Sorta your only friend, though. Can you really tell if it's not love when there's no one to compare it to?"

"I know what attraction feels like." Tannis sniffed defensively, "Scientifically there are many simple ways to tell and I would know. I've had the symptoms of attraction for people before."

One of them muttered under their breath, something that contained the word "symptoms" carried with a tone of confusion. By this point all four of them were standing before her, split with two on one side and two on the other. They started to bicker with one another while Tannis fixed the empty space between them with an exaggerated glare. 

"See? Fl4k had a point when they said she wasn't showing the, uh, what did you call it?" Moze glanced over.

"Usual human courtship rituals."

"Yeah, that! We were right so pay up."

"Oh, come on! She's obviously in denial." Zane said while Amara shook her head adamantly beside him.

Their words began to click in her mind and Tannis grit her teeth unhappily. Not only had they barged in to ask her the ridiculous question, they had made  _ bets _ over the answer. They were debating over who won  _ in front of her _ . She'd had enough. Grabbing a broom leaning against the table, she swung it around at them.

"Get out! You're wasting my time with this stupidity." 

"Oi, watch it-" Zane squawked.

"Is that blood on your broom?" Amara asked incredulously.

"Out! Out!"

The Vault Hunters retreated from the assault far quicker than they had entered.  _ Good riddance _ , Tannis growled internally. 

___

Even after they were long gone, when the conversation should have slipped from her mind like condensation down a window, Tannis found it difficult to concentrate. Her thoughts were notably erratic on an average day, but this was different. Despite her efforts to continue dissecting the creature on her table, the interaction would creep around the edges of her mind. 

Finally she gave in and removed her gloves to rinse the blood from her hands. Afterwards, Tannis snatched her echo device off the table. She collapsed into a cot and stared at the ceiling, clicking the device to record her thoughts. And yet the words couldn't find their way off of her tongue. Which was ridiculous, because words weren't sentient and therefore couldn't get lost. Still the echo recorder sat on while Tannis remained silent.

If she couldn't get passed the accusation, because that's what it was to her ears, then perhaps providing proof aloud would settle her nerves. 

"I am not in love with Lilith." Tannsi began with the statement, firm and without doubt, "Approaching someone you are attracted to can cause heart palpitations, of which I haven't noted around Lilith."

That much she also had no doubt of. In fact, when Tannis looked back there was a distinct  _ lack _ of rapid heartbeats when she was around Lilith. Apparently having a severe aversion to human contact could make one anxious and result in heart palpitations, but she was comfortable around the former Siren, and so there weren't any. 

"Excessive sweating can be another symptom, of which I haven't suffered from any more than the average amount."

She can remember sweating often around the time she first met Lilith, but that would have been from her aversion to people. At that point in her life Tannis had been at her most paranoid.  _ Any _ interactions with other living beings left her a disgusting amount of sweaty. But that didn't mean she had feelings for Lilith back then, or now.

"So, the only feasible conclusion is that I am not in love."

A strong, decisive end to the discussion. Or at least it should have been. How hard could it possibly be to get the nagging question out of her head? She'd entertained the ridiculous notion long enough to test the theory, yet the words haunted Tannis. The Vault Hunters were confident enough to make bets between them  _ and _ to risk bothering her about it. What about her demeanor led them to believe she was in love with Lilith? 

As much as she loathed to admit it, perhaps the only way to placate her hounding thoughts would be to ask them. That way, at the very least, Tannis could make sure to never act that way again. She called them into the medical bay after another day of waffling back and forth with the idea. To play it safe, she prepared to brandish the broom if things became too much again.

"Uh, you have a job for us to do?" Moze asked, as the four stood in front of her.

"A question."

"Okay, shoot."

"What made you think I was in love with Lilith?"

The four of them exchanged disbelieving glances.

Zane was the first to answer, "I think we were just dicking around to begin with."

"But then we realized that you're super comfortable around her." Amara added.

"That's it?"

"Why, have you had a revelation?" Moze seemed to pale, "I already spent the cash I got for winning the bet, I'm not about to pay them back."

"Of course not, I've already gone over the symptoms of a 'crush' again, to be sure. I just want to make sure I don't give anyone else the idea-"

"Wait a sec, we never said anythin' about a crush. The bet was over if you were in  _ love _ with her."

"What's the difference?" 

The question should have been rhetorical, but the Vault Hunters stared at her in shock. Before Tannis knew what was happening they had pulled her into Moxxi's. Her many, horrified protests fell upon deaf ears apparently. In what seemed to be far too little time to be coincidental, they had set up a circle of chairs with various other inhabitants of Sanctuary III. Tannis felt a wave of nausea coming on.

"Okay, so, we've got maybe ten minutes before Lilith comes looking for all of us. We have to make this quick."

"We don't  _ have _ to do this  _ at all _ ." Tannis tried to insist, to little avail.

"I'll start us off." Zane stalwartly ignored the protest, "Hey, you should be taking notes."

She begrudgingly took the notepad and pen offered to her. As painful as this interaction was already proving to be, Tannis was a scientist after all and at the end of the day this was an opportunity. She could only hope that the advice given held actual merit. 

"So, in  _ my  _ experience, love is something that flares up intensely when yer around 'em. Doesn't last though."

Somebody in the circle scoffed, but Tannis jotted the words down regardless. That was a concept that she could conceptualize easily. In fact, that sounded incredibly similar to her tests on attraction and "crushes". She could mark the note as a proven  _ no _ without any more thought.

Moze leaned forward, "Nah, I think love is just plain strange. It makes you feel weird emotions more vividly."

"Explain." She gave into the curiosity, pen at the ready.

"Stuff like, I 'unno, guilt. You feel shitty for falling in love with someone while you're in the middle of a warzone, when that's the last thing you should be doing."

Another concept that she could begin to wrap her head around. Tannis didn't often care about other people in a way that would leave her feeling guilty, but it was easy to see why it would happen. Science was something she could sacrifice others feelings for the furthering of. But Lilith had insisted she not use the other Sanctuary III inhabitants as test subjects, not unless it was absolutely necessary. Perhaps that had something to do with that guilt concerning those you care about. She wrote it down, even if that didn't have anything to do with  _ her _ or her feelings about Lilith.

Maya wrinkled her nose when Tannis turned to her, following a clockwise pattern around the circle, "Oh, I am not the one to ask about things like this. I barely feel physical attraction to start with."

Then it was onto Claptrap. She swiveled right by him, cutting off any attempt to speak by pointing to Amara. 

"I'm not sure if I'm great to ask either. My marriage was more of a PR stunt than anything else."

"Does that mean ya never loved them?" Zane inquired.

"Maybe that's what love is. Recognizing that they deserve to be cherished rather than tolerated, ending things for their sake."

Around her several people nodded, as if the advice was wonderful and sagely. Tannis couldn't picture herself ever getting married in the first place, let alone being put into such a situation. That advice was written down and easily marked off. It was something to ponder when considering human nature, but not whether she had feelings for Lilith. 

She blinked and recoiled suddenly, as though hit. Had she really just  _ thought _ that? This entire project was so that she could avoid making anyone think that she had feelings for Lilith, and her own mind had just betrayed her! After a moment Tannis managed to scribble down the note. Green, glassy eyes stared down at the words, unable to truly comprehend what she was seeing. 

Moxxi leaned over the bar to add her own thoughts, something about life being in bold or on fire when in love. Another voice picked up where she left off and then another from there. Tannis didn't hear any of them, not until an incredibly familiar and unfortunate voice cut into their little circle.

"The hell are you all doing in here?" Lilith crossed her arms and cut an imposing figure in the doorway.

In an instant the people around her scattered, like a pack of ratches when one shines light in a Promethean sewer. Not a single one of them bothered to explain themselves as they tripped over chairs and disappeared passed the scowling face of their commander. Under any other circumstances Tannis would have been rather impressed by the efficiency of the display. At the moment the only thing running through her mind was a shrill scream of absolute mortification, as it became obvious that  _ she _ was going to have to be the one to explain things.

When that stern glare landed on her, Lilith's eyes widened in surprise. Once everyone else had dispersed to whatever jobs they had previously abandoned, the commander walked swiftly over to her. Tannis wasn't known for her astounding ability to read faces. The best guess she could make from the way Lilith's eyebrows knit together and her lips pursed, was that for some reason she was concerned, of all things. 

"Hey, you okay?" She asked hovering her hands near Tannis' shoulders and looking her over, "Did they, like, tie you to the chair or something?"

"They dragged me here, but I remained of my own accord."

"Oh. Okay. Proud of you for...tolerating that."

"Thank you." Tannis cleared her throat awkwardly. 

"So, why  _ did  _ they drag you here?"

There were so,  _ so _ many things she wanted to do rather than tell the truth. Tannis found herself envious of the simpletons who could spit out a white lie on command. Instead she looked down at the notepad in her hand and then back at Lilith, mind scrambling to put anything together that wasn't the truth. 

"I believe they were trying to explain the difference between attraction and love to me." 

Lilith stared blankly for a moment, no doubt trying to figure out if she had misheard the answer, before raising her eyebrows. An awkward movement that was half-grin, half-grimace was the only thing Tannis managed.

"So, glossing over the reason why,"  _ Oh, perhaps something cosmic had finally taken pity on her. _ "What have you got so far?"  _ Nevermind. _

Tannis handed her the notepad, and the pen too for good measure, a little more roughly than necessary. For a moment their hands brushed and she jerked away. The dark, fingerless clothes she wore prevented most of the action from having skin-to-skin contact, but it wasn't prevented completely. A tingly warmth lingered where their fingers met. 

Words began to surface from the back of her mind, something about heat and the feeling spread. Her breathing picked up to an uncomfortable speed. Lilith didn't seem to notice, as she pondered the notepad with an unreadable expression. Well, perhaps it would be readable by someone else, but certainly not her. The discomfort brought the waves of nausea back with gusto. 

"Well, I was going to give you some advice from when me 'n' Roland were together." Lilith's voice slowed around the name, "but after reading this...I think what you should take away is that love is subjective."

Her words were a kick straight to the gut.  _ This was on the list! _ The sharp nipping of guilt at her heels, here she was focusing on her own confusing feelings and Lilith was still in love with Roland. Tannis didn't really know what she expected, from what she could gather of grief that was a given. Lilith would never stop loving him. 

What was she thinking? This was her best friend, her  _ only  _ friend. Lilith was the commander of the Crimson Raiders. She had the weight of the world, of their war against the Calypsos, the weight of grief over Roland and her lost powers and every friend they'd lost along the way. Tannis felt bile bubbling up in her throat as the anxiety took over completely. 

"Woah, hey, you look like you're about puke." Lilith startled when she looked back over.

Tannis almost gagged, "I'm f-fine."

Despite the half-hearted assurance, Lilith still leaned over to feel her forehead and then look around frantically. It was the reaction of a friend who was well aware of her disposition. Perhaps if Tannis were a more sickeningly romantic person that fact would have touched her. Instead the sheer force of her nerves did what it was so,  _ so _ adept at doing.

"Oh, geez now your nose is bleeding. I thought we were passed this, killer."

Tannis wanted to sink into the floor, or maybe run back to the medical bay and lock herself there forever. Why did her own body have to betray her at every possible moment? By this point she was as white as a sheet, head bouncing wildly from her nausea to the nosebleed in an effort to figure out which to focus on fixing first. She could focus on neither and settled for staring at Lilith as if she'd seen a ghost.

Noise from the bar startled Lilith into looking up from where she stood, leaning with her hands on her knees in front of her silently panicking friend. Tannis didn't flinch or even manage tear her gaze from the redhead's face. Blood trickled uncomfortable down over her lips, but she couldn't seem to command her hands to wipe it away. Footsteps approached them from behind.

"You know, I'm just going to go check on something outside the bar. Give you two a moment alone." Moxxi said, fixing Tannis with a pointed look.

Lilith watched her leave a slight tilt to her head, an action she had come to recognize as a sign of confusion. When she turned back to look at Tannis there was a bemused half-smile pulling at those very soft-looking lips. 

"Uh, hey, what was that abo-" 

Before the sentence could be finished, pieces of the puzzle found their ways together, clicking into place behind golden eyes that widened a little more each time they did. Lilith froze like a skag in headlights for an agonizing few seconds. Then she looked over her shoulder in the direction that Moxxi disappeared, back at Tannis, over her shoulder again, and then  _ back _ at Tannis. She was starting to get whiplash on Lilith's behalf.

"Oh fuck, I- I try to hold it back when I'm around you, because I  _ know _ your aversion to people, but sometimes I end up being too much anyways." 

"Like when you got very drunk and passed out on top of me?" Tannis added helpfully.

"Exactly like that. I am…" There was a long pause, as Lilith seemed to be struggling by this point. "I don't think I've ever been known for being easy to get along with."

"A trait we share."

"Which is probably part of why we're so close. Anyways, I try to reign myself in for your sake and most of the time if I fail, you let me know. I don't know why you haven't told me this time, but Tannis...you mean a lot to me." 

There was another long pause. Lilith sat heavily back into her seat and wiped over her face with both hands. Bewilderment seeped over her worried spiraling until it was the only thing on her mind. Had Tannis wished to disappear into the floor so hard that she'd fallen clear through into a parallel universe where  _ Lilith  _ was the one confessing to  _ her _ instead of the other way around? 

"And I should probably stop while I'm ahead. Ahem. If I've been coming on too strongly, I'm sorry. The last thing I want to do is ruin our friendship."

Tannis finally took a moment to wipe at the blood dripping down her face. The sticky feeling on the end of her fingertips grounded her enough that she could breathe a little more evenly. Green eyes skittered up nervously, meeting golden ones that looked equally worried. Lilith's hand hovered over her knee, as if afraid connecting would send her running in the opposite direction.

"Just to be clear…" Tannis struggled over the words that tasted foreign on her tongue, "you...was that insinuating that you want u-us to be more than just friends?"

Lilith nodded stiffly and bit her lip, "I was trying to say that if it's too much for you, I'll back off. You're my closest friend and I'm not about to mess that up. But...yeah, that about sums it up."

"It's not."

"Huh?"

"You do not need to "back off"."

Her heart beat it's way into her throat. The way Lilith was looking at her, the relief that shot across her expression melding into something much softer, something that made her cheeks flush. Tannis stared at the floor as she gently grabbed the hand that had been hovering and pushed it down the last inch. It was a chaste touch and she  _ still _ shivered. 

The corner of Lilith's mouth twisted, in an annoying, self-satisfied sort of way. Which was probably another thing that baffled her about their relationship. It wasn't necessarily a bad sort of baffling, Tannis just wasn't used to being so fond of someone that got on her nerves. Certainly never expected she'd...well,  _ love _ someone that got on her nerves.

Because that was the truth, wasn't it? Somehow, someway, Tannis had fallen in love with her best friend. If someone had asked her about it years ago, she would have laughed in their face at just the concept of her having a best friend. Her train of thought was cut off abruptly as Lilith's face appeared within inches of her own.

"Hey."

Tannis swallowed roughly at the feeling of hot breath on her lips.

"Yes or no, killer. Do you want this?"

To answer, she reached up carefully to run her fingers along either side of Lilith's face. The feeling was electric and almost too much for her careful hands that avoided contact with others like the plague. She could feel the muscles shift as Lilith smiled, could tell she was going to move even before she closed the remaining distance between them. 

There were many things about a kiss that one could extrapolate on their own accord. The feeling of chapped lips to soft, lipsticked ones or the warmth of your breath mixing with theirs. Tannis didn't spend a lot of time pondering what kissing anyone would be like, let alone a specific person, and every aspect of it left her struggling to keep up. When Lilith pulled away from the cautious kiss, Tannis tightened her fingers around her face and pulled them closer.

Lilith grinned against her lips and pushed Tannis' hands up into her hair instead. The red locks were soft and downy near the base of her neck, her fingers getting caught in the silky tangles further along. Nails scratched lightly over her thighs and then a weight settled on her lap. 

She paused to open her eyes and reel her thoughts in long enough to take in the sight of Lilith straddling her legs. With her heart beating far too loud to concentrate, Tannis drew in several long breaths and let her hands settled awkwardly on Lilith's hips. A thumb pressed down on her chin to allow the next kiss to deepen, the feeling of a tongue trailing along her bottom lip was nothing compared to when Lilith slid her tongue into Tannis' mouth.

"Hey, I've been turning people away from the bar so that you two could talk." Moxxi's voice broke into their little bubble, "If it's gonna be more than that, I suggest getting a room."

The words startled Tannis enough that she jumped, knocking her forehead against Lilith's before tipping the chair over backwards. Her head was saved from smacking solidly into the floor by a hand cradling the back of it. Lilith stared down at her in worry for a moment, before breaking into laughter. The sound of it curled in her ears and Tannis was startled to find herself laughing too. 

"Well, that's gonna bruise." Lilith said as she got to her feet and inspected her elbow.

From the look she gave Tannis as she pulled them into the commander's quarters a few minutes later, she had a feeling it wouldn't be the only thing bruising.

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to just be a short, dumb little fic but I have no self control and this is quite frankly my favorite ship for all of Borderlands. That being said, this is far from the end of me writing some good Tannith.
> 
> As always all comments and constructive criticism are greatly appreciated and I hope you have a wonderful day/night <3


End file.
